This new study on the leading Canton and Macao merchant families advances our understanding of the rise and development of global commercial networks. The eighteenth century was a transitional period in world trade when large monopolistic companies gradually lost ground to the more efficiently operated private ships, and the China trade was one of the catalysts giving rise to this transformation. The assurance of obtaining high interest on investments, competitive prices for trade goods, sufficient quantities of saleable merchandise, and easily obtained credit all contributed to China becoming a favored destination for an increasing number of international traders. Much new information has recently emerged about the Canton and Macao merchants' operations which provide fresh insights into the factors behind the decline of family enterprises and rise of the private traders. Scholars of Chinese history, international trade, maritime studies, and foreign relations will find extraordinary new material here. Scholars of the Americas and Western Europe will also encounter relevant data that the great expansion of trade with China shaped their histories, including details of the dramatic growth in expendable incomes in those countries combined with an ever-increasing demand for tea.

Paul A. Van Dyke is an associate professor at the University of Macau, and the author of The Canton Trade: Life and Entelpl'ise on the China Coast, 1700-1845. He has spent many years researching various aspects of life, trade, and societies in the Pearl River Delta and maritime Asia.